Significantly early for a meeting at McDonalds, I decided to open my laptop and use my time wisely. I questioned whether I could get much work done, since I was sitting in the television section. Have you been to a McDonalds that has a television...the monstrous ones on the wall that can be viewed from anywhere in the room, except if you're back is to it?I was surprised at the low level of noise. In fact, I looked up from my work often, curious to what was going on around me. What I discovered that day and have continued to notice during following trips was this:
Families sitting in the seats just below the television, adults in the wall seats, so they couldn't see the TV, and kids in the opposite seats so they could. And that's how the families ate...in silence while the kids were entranced to the TV and the adults soaked itheir own thoughts or the momentary silence of their children.
The seating was intentional. Everyone seemed happy. Yet as I watched several families come and go, repeating the same seating arrangement and behavior, I wondered...
How often are we the adults at McDonalds? We need to eat. We need to spend time with family. And we need peace and quiet, so we try to combine it all in one magical experience. It's multi-tasking with a twist. Are we eating what is best for us? Actually spending quality time with family? If McDonalds is our idea of peace and quiet, we need to examine our lifestyle!
In our spiritual lives, we need to be nourished. We need to spend time with God. And we need to quiet ourselves and find peace in him. And yet we treat those needs as if they're a list of "to-do's" that we can multi-task in one swift move and get on with our lives. We rationalize any spiritual food is better than none at all, so we don't discern what's truthful and what's not. We justify our Bible study time as anytime we sit with our Bibles open in front of us even if we skim the words so quickly they blur...if we're even reading at all. Or we cram study time into any leftover nook and cranny of the day just to ease our conscience. And for quiet time, we might be able to find a location quiet to external noise but what about the noise within our minds? Do we slow down our incessant self-talk enough to hear God's steady, faithful voice?
Perhaps we need to consider alternatives to our fast-food, multi-tasking faith...
Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work. - John 4:34
"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33
